Let-oee motion oe looms



UNITED STATES 4)PATENT OFFICE.x

JONATHAN KNOWLES, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

LET-OFF MOTION F LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 7,324, dated April 30, 1850.

To all whom t may concern Be 1t known that I, JONATHAN KNowLEs,

y of the city of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of Newg York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Looms, which I denominate a let-Off Motion; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my invention, reference being had to the annexed drawing, which forms part of this specification, and in which` Figure l is a plan of a loom representing only those portions which are essential to give a clear conception of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section at the line m of` Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a plan of the counterpoise shaft and levers detached from the loom; Figa is a similar plan of a whiproll; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section at the line m of Fig. 2 through one of the standards which support the stationary whip-rolls.

The invent-ion consists in a combination of mechanical devices by means of which the warp is let offl from the yarn-roll in exact proportion to the amount of filling inserted, while the force with which the filling is driven up can be regulated in proportion to the closeness or fineness required in the cloth.

In the drawing A is the frame of the loom which is represented in this instance as constructed of wood. The lay B is hinged to two brackets b, o, projected from the lower extremities of the front standards of the frame; it carries the reed, which is firmly secured to it in such a manner that it will not give when it strikes the filling inserted by the shuttle. The yarnroll E is mounted in the usual manner at the back of the loom, it has a screw-wheel D secured to o-ne of its extremities whose teeth engage with the worm of a screw t secured to an upright shaft p which is supported by brackets u u, projected inward from one of the sides of the loom frame. The lower extremity of the screw-shaft is furnished with a face ratchet-wheel 0 which is acted upon by a finger m hinged at its front end to one of the swords of the lay. The hinder extremity of the linger is suspended by a rod L from an adjustable hook z' secured to an arm I attached to a horizontal shaft G which crosses the loom and projects at each extremity beyond the sides of the loom frame. 4

Two pinions H, H of equal size are secured to the opposite extremities of this horizontal shaft (G) within the sides of the loom frame, these engage with the teeth of two equal racks c, c, secured to the two sliding standards O, O, of the middle whiproll w; each standard is guided in a vertical direction by two guides o, c, projecting laterally from a stationary standard C secured to the side of the loom frame and forked at its upper extremity to support two stationary whip-rolls, the one l1/ before, and

the other behind the middle whip-roll.

The extremities of the shaft Gr which project beyond the sides of the lo-om are each furnished with an arm K to which an adjustable weight 7c is adapted; the latter is fitted with a clamp-screw by which it can be secured to its respective arm at any required distance from the center of the horizontal shaft. The tendency of the weights is to turn the shaft in the direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing and thus through the pinions H H andi racks c, c, to depress the middle whip-roll fw. The position of the arm I from which the finger mis suspended, and the length of the suspension rod L is regulated in such manner that when the middle whip-roll is at its lowest position the hinder end of the finger is lifted so high that it cannot engage with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 0 hence the latter will not be turned when the whip-roll is .in this position. The variation of the acting length of the suspension rod L is effected by changing the position of the hook z' by means of screw-nuts above and below the arm I to which it is attached.

The operation of this combination of devices is as follows: The warp from the yarnroll E is passed over the back whip-roll (on), under the middle one (w) :and over the fro-nt one (y), it is then passed through the harness and reed and secured to the cloth roll. When the loom is put in motion the filling inserted in the shed by the shut tle is struck up by the reed ateach vibration of the lay while at the same time the finger m receives a reciprocating motion from the sword of the lay B. As the reed is firmly secured to.the lay it will strike the filling at each vibration with the full force communicated to the lay, but as the middle whiproll is movable and is kept pressed down in the bight of the warp by the counterpoise weights alone, it gives upward to the strain on the warp and hence the intensity of the blow of the reed is regulated by the position of the counterpoise weights which can be adjusted to produce any re` quired firmness in the texture of the cloth by shifting their position on their arms K, K. As the shutt-le continues to pass to and fro a quantitv of filling is gradually accumulated which `is driven forward by Ythe reed and taken up by the cloth-roll, as the warp behind the reed is thus progressively tightened the movable whip-roll is gradually raised and the arm (I) projecting from the counterpoise shaft being correspondingly depressed, the finger (m) is lowered sufficiently to act rupon the ratchet-wheel (0) which is turned by the backward stroke of the finger; as the ratchet-wheel is thus turned the screw (t), to whose shaft it is secured, act-ing upon the screw-wheel (D) on the yarn-roll turns the latter and unwinds or lets off a portion of the warp, the length of which is proportioned to the distance to which the ratchet-wheel is turned. The higher the whip-roll is raised the longer time will the finger be in gear with the ratchet teeth and consequently the greater will be the length of the warp let off from the yarn-roll; hence it is obvious that by adjusting the position of the counterpoise weights (7c k) and the length of the suspension rod (L) of the nger (m) the cloth may be woven of any desired texture.

The let-off motion thus described does away with the necessity of the spring reed usually employed in looms; the tension of the warp which is regulated by a constant weight is also uniform and constant and hence every thread of the filling is driven up with an equal amount of force, thus producing a cloth of even texture throughout, while at the same time the warp is let olf from the yarn-roll in exact proportion to Ythe amount of filling inserted by the shuttle.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The arrangement of the yielding weighted and the stationary whip-rolls in connect-ion with the let-off motion as herein set forth, whereby the texture of the cloth is rendered more uniform than has been heretofore done while it can be Varied at will.

JONATHAN KNOWLES.

Vitnesses':

H. B. BENT, WESLEY CHASE. 

